Archipelagos
| Developer: Astral | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: Logotron | Sound: |
| |
| Year: 1989 | Difficulty: |
 | |
| Genre: Unclassifiable | Lastability: |
 | |
| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
6/10 | |
Yet another bizarre game trying to twist its gameplay principle around a fantastic macrocosm. My kind of collection.
Hold on tight. You control a disembodied spirit hovering over a tropical 3D island. This not-quite-paradisiacal world is corrupted by the spirits of ancient men, manifested as strange tentacles sprouting from the ground and spewing toxic blood everywhere. They’re called arboreal trees. This haemoglobin corruption gradually extends until it covers the entire region. Not very healthy for you…
Still with me? Your only chance of salvation is an obelisk, which must be destroyed after first taking down its energy sources, represented by menhirs. To do this, click on the squares where they are perched. Up to this point, no difficulty, and during the first ten tableaux of the game, you will simply need to click beneath the menhirs and then find and inflict the same treatment on the obelisk…
It’s at level 10 that you will discover the meaning of the energy bar located at the bottom left of the screen, when your first menhir will brazenly refuse to collapse, emitting a “beep” quite disconcerting for those who have not read the manual. The answer: your menhir must be connected to the obelisk by a dirt path. The “F1” key lets you create a small patch of land on water, at the cost of a modest quantity of energy. And why not use the left mouse button? Too simple for the developers, apparently. Incidentally, this method also allows you decontaminating a “red” surface in order to be able to station there.
Oh, and press “F2” to display the map and “F3” to perform a quick half-turn.
Once you’ve got the basics down, you’ll cruise through a few more levels before the critters start showing up. First, the necromancers: giant eyes springing from the ground and slowly gnawing at the coastline, until you’re left stranded (and dead). Then arrive the poison eggs (I advise you not to linger nearby when they hatch), and finally the lost souls, little tornadoes you’ll want to avoid as well…
Despite an interesting atmosphere, largely due to the music, I have the feeling that something is missing. Certainly variety, perhaps also challenge at the beginning of the game (out of 9,999 levels, perhaps it would have been judicious to allow us to skip a few). At least the game saves our progress.
By the way, the music strongly reminds me of The Outer Limits.
Apparently, the cracked version available on most emulation sites crashes at level 20. So, as a rare treat, here’s the original version complete with the manual for bypassing the copy protection (thanks to Hall of Light).
Someone better bring me some oranges.
If you enjoy the atmosphere but prefer something more action-packed, I recommend Risk of Rain 2 (2019).
|
